On second thought, it probably wasn’t a good idea for Rob Parker to conduct an interview with a local Detroit station Sunday.
As a result, Parker’s 30-day suspension from ESPN now has become permanent. The network disclosed today it is dumping Parker.
“Rob Parker’s contract expired at year end. Evaluating our needs and his work, including his recent RGIII comments, we decided not to renew,” ESPN said in a statement.
ESPN wouldn’t say more, but it seems reasonable to deduce that the network wasn’t pleased with Parker’s interview Sunday. Clearly, Parker reacted like he still had a job at ESPN. He talked up First Take, lauding the show for fearlessly tackling controversial issues such as race.
I assumed Parker cleared the interview with ESPN officials, but perhaps that wasn’t the case. The network likely didn’t approve of what Parker had to say. Namely, where he said First Take producers knew what he was going to say about Robert Griffin III.
“We had a discussion during a pre-production meeting,” Parker said. “Not every single word, but they knew which way we were going. It’s just not off-the-cuff obviously.”
All in all, Parker probably should have laid low while serving his suspension. But then, he isn’t good at keeping his mouth shut.
This is the hypocrisy of ESPN. What Parker said didn’t merit a suspension initially; it only merited a suspension once public outrage became overwhelming; and it didn’t merit a firing until he revealed ESPN’s complicity. What he said is either right or wrong. It doesn’t become more wrong with time.